I retired from being an Engineering Fellow for a major industrial conglomerate in 2007. I spent 32 years there and focused on technology strategy and new technology development. I was fortunate to have both a defined benefit pension, a good size 401k, and some taxable brokerage accounts. To keep my mind busy, I made a hobby of personal investment management. I have focused on asset allocation theory, valuation techniques, and technical analysis. As an income investor, my primary interests are choosing and holding individual dividend stocks, including MLPs. I select actively managed mutual funds for other asset classes. I recently began using exchange traded debt (baby bonds) and preferred stock to supplement a multi-sector bond fund.

I retired from being an Engineering Fellow for a major industrial conglomerate in 2007. I spent 32 years there and focused on technology strategy and new technology development. I was fortunate to have both a defined benefit pension, a good size 401k, and some taxable brokerage accounts. To keep my mind busy, I made a hobby of personal investment management. I have focused on asset allocation theory, valuation techniques, and technical analysis. As an income investor, my primary interests are choosing and holding individual dividend stocks, including MLPs. I select actively managed mutual funds for other asset classes. I recently began using exchange traded debt (baby bonds) and preferred stock to supplement a multi-sector bond fund.

I am primarily an equities investor whose foremost objective is growing income for retirement. My investment strategy concentrates on maximizing returns while minimizing risk. The Core component of the strategy is accumulating dividend growth stocks. I also utilize options to enhance income and manage risk.I started investing in the stock market at the age of 15 in 2005. All my articles and comments are strictly my opinion and therefore do not constitute investment advice, nor do they constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Please note that the article that you are reading here was originally written on my blog and is republished in Seeking Alpha and other forums. Consequently, I neither track nor respond to comments here. I am sorry! ================ Editors' Note: Seeking Alpha monitors Dr. Damodaran blog and posts relevant articles on his behalf.

The author has over 10 years of experience in the financial markets working in areas of equities trading, complex product analysis, and risk management, as well as a graduate level education in the areas of petroleum engineering (full), law (partial), and finance (MBA, partial).

I was born in Finland, raised in France and I have studied in Germany, the UK and the USA. I started at an early age managing my own portfolio at 14, founded my first company at 16 and later acquired my first real estate investment at 18. I am a CFA Level 2 Candidate and have a B.Sc. in Real Estate Finance and Investments. Because of my specialization in real assets, I tend to mostly focus on REITs, REOCs, and other real asset heavy businesses.

My international background gives me a certain edge over other investors as it provides me a superior understanding of the differences between European and American markets and help me to identify superior opportunities in a broader universe of securities.

Don't hesitate to reach out.

DISCLAIMER: Jussi Askola is not a Registered Investment Advisor or Financial Planner. The Information in his articles and his comments on SeekingAlpha.com or elsewhere is provided for information purposes only. Do your own research or seek the advice of a qualified professional. You are responsible for your own investment decisions.

I am a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) (currently do not have a private practice). I have also been a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) for 17 years (CFF as well). I am currently employed with a global accounting firm in the Northeast area (partner). I have a masters degree in accounting + legal studies. I have audit, tax, and consulting experience with entities in the following sectors: closed-end funds, energy, financials, healthcare, homebuilders, pharmaceuticals, private equity, REITs, and telecoms. I've also have experience with C-corps., estates, high net worth individuals, LLCs, LLPs, S-corps., and trusts. I am a casual individual investor. My investing fundamentals are based on both qualitative and quantitative information. By using my analytical skills, I create specific investing ideas/strategies. I am more of a longer-term investor as opposed to day-trading.

# of Projections Stated Within All Articles: 185# of Projections PENDING: 0# of Projections 100% Accurate or Within Range: 172# of Projections Inaccurate or Outside of Range: 13

Projection “Within Range” Success Rate: 169 / 182 = 93.0%

Please see the list at the bottom of this profile for the details of my past projections.

Disclaimer: I cannot own and will not give an opinion on any investments my current employer has any direct or indirect professional services with (accounting, audit, tax, consulting, etc.). This mainly consists of various mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETF's). This includes all stocks held within these particular investment vehicles. This specified list is updated monthly. As such, most large-cap stocks are "off the table" regarding my articles. All accounting insight, analysis, and opinions stated within any articles I write (in regards to a specified stock) are entirely from my own personal research and analysis. I believe my articles are both informative and in some cases educational.

NOTE: A growing number of readers/investors, analysts, and representatives of firms have requested to be provided with my "spreadsheets/models" to help better understand certain companies/sectors. My researched data is several files of 100+ spreadsheets/models containing both stocks I write about on S.A. and stocks I choose to not write about on S.A. To reduce the repeated requests to provide such data, these spreadsheets/models are ALL linked together. As such, all current and future requests to "share" my data/models will be politely declined. Thanks for your understanding regarding this subject.

I appreciate my loyal readers and I’ll continue to try to provide high quality, in-depth articles.

Question 1): If you are only paid per article, why make your articles so long / detailed?

- I like to provide the “nuts and bolts” of a company. As such, I strive for my articles to have some sort of “hard to obtain” facts / figures. From this data, I like to fully discuss / analyze specific topics within a particular stock. This mainly consists of a quarterly projection article and a series of articles on a company’s dividend sustainability. In certain instances, I also write articles in regards to specific, material events that occur during a quarter. - I believe a company’s quarterly results and upcoming dividend declarations are two of the most important topics readers are requesting information on. My analysis takes the “average” article several steps further to allow readers to have access to information that is rare to public viewership. In doing so, I believe my articles are both beneficial and educational for most readers.

Question 2): How come you only write 1-2 articles a week (would like to see more)?

- As stated in my profile above, I have a full-time professional career. I write / analyze stocks in my free time. To provide these types of high quality / in-depth articles, I can’t see writing more than 2 articles a week. I believe “quality” should always be a higher priority versus “quantity”. - As many readers should know by now (if you’ve followed me for a while), I not here for the monetary rewards. If that was the case, I’d write 5+ weekly articles and provide little to no engagement in each article’s comment section. I believe the comments section is as important as the article themselves b/c readers have a wide range of questions in relation to each article or the sector in general.Question 3): What do you personally gain from writing these articles?

- I am not here trying to promote a company, book, or website. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s just not what I’m about. I’m here for the “average Joe”.

- When I decided to write these articles, I based it on the notion I am filling a “special niche” per se. Using skills that have been built up over my professional career, my articles usually provide unique information that most writers either a) don’t have the technical expertise to provide or b) don’t bother providing due to the time it takes to compile such data. As such, I believe the S.A. community benefits from my articles. I solely do this b/c it’s a passion of mine and I like helping readers have accurate, reliable data that is not readily available. Yes, I understand this may seem “hard to believe” in this day and age. I believe some of my more “seasoned” followers know this aspect of my generosity / personality. Question 4): How come you do not write about more stocks?

- To give readers the level of detail that I provide in my articles, I amass large amounts of data every quarter (or even weekly). As a direct result, a large amount of time is consumed by obtaining / analyzing this data.

- If I expanded the stocks I research, it would most likely take away the quality of other articles I currently am writing about. Again, this gets back to the “quality vs. quantity” metric.

- There is a fairly large range of stocks / investment vehicles I cannot write about / provide an opinion on due to various conflicts of interests (regarding my professional career). This is a topic I take VERY seriously. As such, I take all necessary precautions to avoid any remote possibility of a conflict of interest occurring.

Dividend for August 2016 - AGNC declared a ($0.02) per share decrease prior to my quarterly dividend sustainability analysis. However, in my prior quarter's analysis, I stated I thought AGNC's monthly dividend should be stable over the near-term (3-6 months). As such, I conclude this in an INCORRECT forward projection.

Dividend for Q3 2015***: INCORRECTLY stated dividend would be stable; ($0.10) per share variance; ($0.50 projected vs. $0.40 actual) In my opinion, the severity of this cut was very disappointing once again.

NAV as of 9/30/2015: $0.05 per share variance; within range ($8.95 projected vs. $9.00 actual) (projections + analysis were provided to certain interested parties; did not have enough time to provide an article)

Dividend Sustainability Analysis Through Q4 2013: Stated material dividend cut was needed as soon as the next quarter; 100% accurate because company cut dividend in Q1 2014 from $0.80 per share (regular dividend portion) to $0.67 per share.

Dividend for Q1 2015***: Stated dividend would be "relatively" stable; accurate because company only cut its dividend by ($0.03) per share which, when calculated, was only a "minor" (< 5%) reduction

Dividend for Q2 2015***: Stated heightened risk for another minor - modest dividend reduction; accurate because company cut its dividend by ($0.03) per share which, when calculated, was another "minor" (< 5%) reduction

Dividend for Q3 2015*****: Stated dividend had a modest to high probability (50% - 75%) of being reduced; 100% accurate because company reduced monthly dividends from $0.18 per share to $0.14 per share beginning in July 2015.

* = Stated there was a 60% probability dividend would be reduced to $0.18 per share; a 30% probability dividend would remain stable at $0.20 per share** = Stated there was a 45% probability dividend would be reduced to $0.16 - $0.19 per share

*** = Provided within an AGNC article**** = Provided within a PSEC article

I'm an Army veteran and former energy dividend writer for The Motley Fool. My goal is to help all people learn how to harness the awesome power of dividend growth investing to achieve their financial dreams, and enrich their lives. With 20 years of investing experience, I've learned what works and more importantly, what doesn't, when it comes to building long-term wealth and income streams. I'm currently on an epic quest to build a broadly diversified, high-quality, high-yield dividend growth portfolio that:

I've been an investment analyst and financial writer since 2012. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Finance from DePaul University, and an MBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame. I also have experience working as a research analyst for a mutual fund.

One of the many things that makes human beings so interesting is the variety of hobbies we engage in, from Pooktre art to taphophilia, to carving eggshells. One of the potentially more profitable hobbies -- if done the right way -- is stock market investing, which is my primary hobby. Investing in stocks can be highly rewarding -- or excruciatingly costly and painful. As Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful value investor, once said, “Investing is simple, but not easy.”

It is not easy because we humans seem to have an innate desire to complicate it. Being capable of opening a discount brokerage account and executing our own trades is not the same as being able to effectively manage an investment portfolio. But it’s not that difficult. I manage my family’s investment portfolio. To help me do so, I spend a lot of time researching a plethora of investment topics, from behavioral finance to the MD&A's of potential investment candidates. I decided to record some of this research by writing articles for Seeking Alpha. I have been a daily reader of Seeking Alpha for as long as I can remember. The breadth and depth of authors represents an effective way to benefit from the “wisdom of the crowd.”

I also find that the comments from experienced, savvy readers can be as enlightening as the articles themselves. I have bachelor and master of engineering degrees and an MBA degree. I worked for more than 25 years in daily contact with global equities analysts as Vice President Investor Relations for five different leading companies. If interested, further information can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnrlawlor?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

Josiah has over 8 years of experience in corporate finance, financial consulting and accounting. He specializes in high-yield fixed income and exchange traded debt securities. Currently, he manages his personal fixed income portfolio and retirement portfolio.Josiah holds a Masters of Science in Finance degree from Loyola University Maryland and is currently completing a Masters of Accountancy degree from The George Washington University.

I write for Seeking Alpha to transfer the investment ideas and concepts cluttered in my head onto (digital) paper. This helps me evaluate future investment ideas (and reiterate current holdings) with much more clarity, while also subjecting them to public scrutiny.

I'm also currently a CFA candidate (testing level II). I passed the level 1 exam in June 2015.

I have worked in market research at Proctor and Gamble, and as a systems analyst at AT &T. I have also worked in healthcare, and run a successful internet adventure in addition to being a known indie rock musician. I lost pretty much everything when my business burned 10 plus years ago (underinsured). Illness nearly took me just two years ago, but I am a survivor, and back 100%. During those lean ten years I day traded high risk high dividend stocks and managed to come out with enough to retire. Don't want to do that again. Time to invest for income.

Mr. Fumai most recently was a Senior Portfolio Manager at AIG Investments responsible for a $70bn global corporate bond portfolio. Prior to that, he was a senior credit analyst covering the automotive and industrial sectors.

Previously, he was employed at BNP Paribas as a senior credit analyst following the same industries. His team was voted top research team in global automotive research by Euromoney Magazine and third in Credit Magazine’s investor survey. Mr. Fumai has appeared frequently on Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio, CNN fn, and CNN International. He has also been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Financial Times on the automotive sector.

Prior to joining BNP Paribas, he was a senior high yield analyst at UBS covering the steel, metals and mining industries.

Domenick holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and received a BS degree in Public Accounting from Fordham University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

East Daley is an energy assets research firm bringing greater transparency to the energy financial market. In addition to using top-level financial data to predict a company’s performance, East Daley is first-to-market with an asset-driven information service that provides comprehensive, bottoms-up, asset-level intelligence fueled by commodity fundamentals. Clients are supported by a team of unbiased, highly experienced research analysts. The combination of proprietary research and dynamic client support delivers a unique competitive advantage that enables North American energy capital markets to make more informed and accurate projections and investments.

I am currently a retired Aerospace Engineer. I am married with three children and eight grandchildren. I was born in San Francisco, CA in 1949 and moved to Newport News, VA in 1951 where I lived until I went to college. By God's grace, I received a B.S. degree from Virginia Tech (1972), a M.S. degree from Caltech (1973), and a M.A. - Biblical Studies degree from Birmingham Theological Seminary (2013). I worked at Pratt & Whitney (1973-1986) and CFD Research Corporation (1987-2008).

Now in retirement and trying to preserve my life savings, I currently have a strong interest in tactical asset allocation strategies, and have studied them extensively. I have developed a number of tactical strategies involving the periodic trading of ETFs and, more recently, mutual funds. These strategies have been backtested mainly using Portfolio Visualizer and ETFreplay software. The goal is to earn 10-15% annually with no negative years, and to have maximum drawdowns of less than 10%, preferably less than 5%. The strategies include purchasing a limited number of funds with the highest growth and lowest volatility, and minimizing risk using moving average, dual momentum, and risk parity methods. I have developed strategies for equity as well as bond assets.

I have over 25 years of experience as a: developer of institutional quality office and industrial facilities, general contractor, homebuilder, managing general partner for private limited partnerships, and have performed consulting and transactional real estate services for others, including entitlements for planned commercial/office/industrial developments.

Past job experience included: V.P. of Energy Services for a Florida based Mechanical Contracting company, which subsequently was acquired by EMCOR (NYSE: EME). Responsibilities included development and "financial engineering" of projects to reduce energy consumption and total cost of ownership solutions, partnered with the two major Florida electric utilities, and private companies, (including Enron Energy Services!).

Founded in 2012, Rational Roots Investment Group seeks to be a trusted partner for investors throughout the world. We are an independent financial research firm with a disciplined, objective approach to fundamental analysis. Maintaining independence and objectivity is our first priority as we work to build our reputation as a global leader in investment research.

In our view a systematic, repeatable investment process has many advantages, including the minimization of psychological errors and reduction of management costs. However, we also recognize that given the complexity of global financial markets there is no single formula that will generate sustained outperformance over time. Therefore, we attempt to adapt to changes in market environment by focusing on tools that identify marginal changes in macro conditions and changes in business momentum at the stock level. Never satisfied, we are constantly looking for superior methods to value investments in an objective manner given the current macro backdrop and corporate disclosure rules.

Tim McPartland is a private investor with over 45 years of investment experience. Additionally he is the editor, and former owner, of The Yield Hunter, a website devoted to the hunt for income producing securities of all types, but in particular specializing in preferred stocks, exchange traded debt and Master Limited Partnerships.

A few years ago, I was looking through my 401k statement and noticed a rather glaring reality – the mutual funds that I had the option to invest in were all underperforming their peers, while dwarfing their expense ratios.

I had the sneaking suspicion that I could do better myself. And I have largely been right. However, with three kids now five and under, I simply don’t have the time to study technicals and look for golden crosses or reverse head-and-shoulders. What I really needed was a portfolio which could handle a largely hands-off approach. And so I have started the journey to make my portfolio focused on an ever-increasing income stream (usually called Dividend Growth Investing), rather than an overwhelming focus on percentages ("Income pays the bills; percentages don't"). And since I am 37, I have the time horizon needed to make this compounding approach really work for me.

The moves I make and the portfolio I share is real. Here’s what I hold as of 7/11/16:

I don’t have the time or see the point in having a “model” portfolio, because nothing about a model portfolio ultimately matters. As a result, every word of my writing here is based on what I really do with my real money in my real portfolio(s).

If you follow me, you will get my efforts to find high-quality companies (whether hidden or in plain sight) to own, updates and rationale for all the moves I make, as well as rearview analysis on my life as an investor – what I have learned and the mistakes I have made – so that you can avoid making them as well. All of this without having to whip out your credit card.

Consulting statistician/engineer, now retired. I'm working chiefly on rapid asset growth, leaning to risk-averse strategies. I use a mix of trading and long positions, chiefly in financials, mining, and energy. I am slowly moving into other sectors as I increase my knowledge of them. I am located in Canada and at this point I am wholly in Canadian stocks. US and Global exposure is through Canadian firms that are heavily weighted to foreign operations.

Born in 1958, I am a small investor who has taken his lumps. When I started out, I made a lot of money trading. Then I lost twice as much, when market conditions changed but my methods didn't.

Intellectually I believe that dividend investing is probably the best way to go. However, I am still addicted to searching for a good deal--call it value investing, or swing investing, or what you will.

In the first 11 months of 2016, my portfolio is up 119%. Needless to say, I am happy about that. Especially as a part-time investor with a day job. But like everyone else, I would like to do even better.

Thirty-four year old individual investor building my portfolio towards the goal of retiring with a steady stream of income. Dedicated to dividend growth investing. Looking for opportunities to learn from others and share my investing endeavors with the SA community.

I am a Chartered Accountant in Alberta, Canada. I have extensive experience analyzing financial statements to assess the health of companies and have significant exposure to the Oil & Gas industry.

I focus on a mix of deeply discounted equities to earn out-sized returns and fairly priced, steady companies that build value over time.

Taking a page from Warren Buffett, I view equities as part ownership of a company. I believe that assessing a company's qualitative characteristics and economic moats is just as important as understanding their financial information.

Mr. Leach spent his early years on a subsistence farm in western Michigan. He graduated at the top of his high school class which helped him land a scholarship to the University Michigan. Graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering and a minor in mathematics in 1981, Mr. Leach took his first professional job with Westinghouse Electric in Monroeville, PA.

Mr. Leach held several positions of increasing responsibility at Westinghouse, and Fluor Federal Services in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington State. While in Washington State, Mr. Leach completed his master’s of science degree in Environmental Engineering graduating summa cum laude in 1997 from Washington State University.

In 2003 and 2004 with Fluor Federal Services, Mr. Leach worked as a civilian contractor for the US Department of Defense in various middle east locations and the Philippines. In 2005, Mr. Leach joined the AREVA Group and spent two years in France. After returning stateside in 2006, Mr. Leach held various positions of increasing responsibility with AREVA Federal Services in South Carolina and North Carolina. Mr. Leach left the AREVA group in 2014 at the age of 56 and is now quasi-retired and focuses on his wife, his 15 year old son, and his investment portfolio.

Mr. Leach has been a consistent, avid, and successful investor for more than 30 years. His investment style is conservative and he primarily invests in income oriented equities, bonds, preferred stocks and mutual funds. Mr. Leach has written more than 50 articles on Seeking Alpha and other websites.

Over 25 years with utilities, investment banks, project development companies and government. Focused on financial strategies and large capital projects. Former finance director for $6 billion energy project. Former CEO of an electric/gas trading company. Former CEO of a bulk power company and retail electric and gas company.

Worked in the US Department of Energy (DOE) and their national labs. Advised the Department of Defense (DOD) on energy policy. Worked in the intelligence community. Worked with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and state utility commissions (PUCs). Worked with half of the nation's investor-owned utilities. Worked for nation's largest engineering and construction companies. Published in industry technical journals.

Disclosure: I'm not a financial adviser. All articles are my opinion - they are not suggestions to buy or sell any securities. Perform your own due diligence and consult a financial professional before trading.